Just looking at barrels...the three customs I've bought so far were stainless steel.

Just wondering how the Chrome Moly barrels compare ??????????/

Well, aside from cost, not too much difference, you do have to pay out extra to get them blued, parkerized or whathaveyou. I like stainless better, it's more tolerant of my lazy ways.


I DO note, that most benchrest shooters are using stainless barrels, though, and those guys don't mess around when going for the bestest/mostest for accuracy, etc.

Like anyone else, I'd rather look at nice bluing and pretty wood, but stainless sure has some advantages, though probably not in accuracy when the tube is new.

Complicated, isn't it?

The bench guys say that, between the two in regards to when the throat is shot out, the steel bbl will let the shooter know more possitively when the throat is gone whereas the stainless is more of a gradual decline in accuracy; the two materials handle the heat differently. I would prefer the personality of the steel but in the end, the rust resistance of SS wins it for me.